1. Field of the Invention
The invention concerns a condenser, in particular for a refrigerant fluid in a device for air conditioning the cabin of a motor vehicle, comprising a header box and an elongate intermediate tank for treating and/or accumulating a fluid removably fixed to a base attached to the header box through which two connecting ducts pass for transferring the fluid between the header box and the tank.
2. Description of the Prior Art
In a condenser of the above kind, and as is well known, the intermediate tank can fulfill some or all of the following functions: filtration and/or dehydration of the refrigerant fluid, compensation of variations in the volume of the refrigerant fluid, separation of the liquid and gas phases. Its intermediate position relative to the condenser allows only fluid in the liquid state to flow in the part of the condenser downstream of the tank and so the fluid is supercooled below the liquid/gas equilibrium temperature, improving the performance of the condenser and making its performance relatively independent of the quantity of fluid contained in the circuit.
EP-A-0 480 330 describes, in a vehicle air conditioning condenser, an intermediate tank removably fixed to a base attached to the header box, through which the two connecting ducts pass.
The tank has a head at the bottom end attached to its wall which is fixed to the base by means of a screw. The connecting ducts are partly in the base and partly in the head of the tank.
The above prior art embodiment is relatively complex and bulky. What is more, if the tank contains treatment agents, in particular for filtering and/or dehydrating the fluid, it must be replaced before those agents are used up. To this end it is necessary to unscrew the fixing screw, which can be very difficult, depending on its accessibility within the vehicle.
The aim of the invention is to remedy the above drawbacks.